India braced Saturday for a Supreme Court ruling over a holy site contested for centuries by Hindus and Muslims, which in 1992 sparked some of the deadliest sectarian violence since independence. Police were put on alert nationwide ahead of the ruling, with thousands of extra security personnel deployed and schools closed in and around the northern city of Ayodhya, centre of the spat. Hardliners among India's majority Hindus, including supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), believe that Ram, the warrior god, was born in Ayodhya.